


Unsent

by Madame_Ashley



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Sadness, Unrequited Love, here there be heartache
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 14:31:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9186437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madame_Ashley/pseuds/Madame_Ashley
Summary: A friend asked for a Jopper meets The Notebook fic. I've never seen The Notebook, but I understand that it involves letters. And crying. Enjoy!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [steffers86](https://archiveofourown.org/users/steffers86/gifts).



She kept all of his letters. Of course she did.

Even though the thought of Lonnie finding such incriminating evidence filled her with an unmatched dread. They were well hidden. Not in a drawer among her underthings – just the sort of place a jealous husband might go rifling; not tucked between mattresses – where Lonnie was prone to grope about in search of extra cash Joyce may have stashed away.

Instead, the letters – four in total – resided amidst the pages of Joyce’s hardcover copy of Lord of the Rings. The book itself was nothing remarkable to behold, certainly not so special that Lonnie – who never cracked a book himself – would consider pawning it. Rather, the cloth-bound volume was just large enough and ugly enough to go unnoticed on the living room shelf for this many years. 

In their teens and early twenties, the nature of Joyce and Jim’s relationship was undefined, the physical attraction strong but their connection more than sexual. They enjoyed each other’s company, shared the same taste in music and possessed a mutual affection for the macabre and the fantastic. Both saw other people throughout their courtship, and the prospect of “going steady” went unmentioned, largely due to Hopper’s career plans. For Joyce, leaving Hawkins was out of the question, her mother having fallen ill shortly before graduation. 

Hopper’s first letter, scrawled in blue ballpoint, his cursive surprisingly neat, was the most salacious of the bunch. Dated a month into his freshman year at Bloomfield, Jim’s mind was still full of the romantic times they had spent over the previous year. His correspondence ruminated on the feel of Joyce’s bare thighs around his waist, the way her long dark hair spilled out onto the grass, how she squealed when he whispered in her ear. 

The tone of this initial letter was sweet and flirtatious, hinting at “continuing where they left off” during an upcoming weekend visit to Hawkins. Maybe Hopper had meant it nonchalantly, but for Joyce these words always felt particularly painful in light of the events that followed. With Jim out of the picture and her mother’s health on the decline, Lonnie Byers had begun pursuing Joyce at her most vulnerable.

The second letter, dated shortly before Thanksgiving 1961 was less risqué in nature. Hopper retained his good nature, playfully lamenting that he had to suffer through an undergrad before he could apply to the police academy. Needing to be twenty-one to gain admittance, he had settled on a liberal arts degree to “kill time,” joking that he would try not become a “reefer addict in the process.”

They spent some time over the holidays together, although Jim began to withdraw as Lonnie’s presence in Joyce’s life became more pronounced.

Hopper didn’t write again until late 1964. This letter was really more confession than formal correspondence, discussing at length his anxiety about mutual friends who had enlisted to join the fight in Vietnam. It was unlike Jim to be forthcoming about things that worried him, and Joyce was touched to be his confidant. When less than a year later Jim returned to Hawkins to attend the funeral of a friend killed in action, he took comfort in Joyce’s arms, the passion lingering for the duration of the summer.

Joyce’s final letter from Hopper was dated April 1966, and consisted of a few short sentences explaining that he had become seriously involved with a young woman named Diane and how he hoped that there were no “hard feelings.” By now he most certainly knew that she was Mrs. Lonnie Byers; that Jim even felt it necessary to inform Joyce of his own pending nuptials made her sob each time she read it. 

Within a month of receiving Hopper’s last correspondence, Joyce composed her own letter, never to be sent. She scribbled down the words just to assert them somewhere, her secret too painful to bear without witness.

Nine times out of ten, she and Jim had been careful, but what about the tenth time?

Lonnie proposed before Joyce even knew she was expecting. The timing was as perfect as it was terrible. 

May 4, 1966: I gave birth to a little boy today. His name is Jonathan, and I promise to love him twice as much as I’ve ever loved anyone: for myself, of course, but also for his father, who it is likely he will never meet.

**Author's Note:**

> Please follow me on tumblr at dutifullymadameashley


End file.
